The global livestock sector has far outpaced the regulatory capacity of governments and societies and this has major implications on areas such as environment and human health. Animal production affects the climate in two ways, directly and indirectly, says the 2009 State of Food and Agriculture report? Livestock in the balance.
While stressing the caveat of developing a context-specific approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation methodologies, the author of the report Kostas G Stamoulis said there are two ways of turning producers in favour of more sustainable practices. The first is through policy direction. For example, the government could regulate the processes for manure handling by industrial producers. The second method is carrot on a stick. Unlike mixed-use producers, industrial producers are removed from traditional methods of disposing manure. Though there are advantages on account of economies of scale, like the viability of hiring veterinarians to monitor livestock health to ensure they don?t carry any diseases that affects humans, there are specific problems such as manure processing, explained Stamoulis. Stamoulis is director, agriculture development economics division, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO).
The second would develop a mechanism for payment of compensation to producers in return for environmental services, Stamoulis said. ?FAO did a study two years ago on just this,? Stamoulis said, adding that the method had potential to effect change on the ground.
The carrot on a stick method would develop a mechanism for payment of compensation to producers in return for environmental services, Stamoulis said.
According to 2006 UN FAO figures, livestock contributes at least 9% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, 37% methane and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions. Anthropogenic emissions have been found to be closely linked with global warming by bodies such as the inter-governmental Panel on climate change.
On the sidelines of a workshop to discuss the findings of the United Nations report, Gavin Wall, the UN FAO representative in India and Bhutan, said, ?We are in a foggy mist as far as direction for switching to more sustainable livestock practices on the ground is concerned. In terms of mitigation action and adoption of policies and technologies to limit greenhouse gas emissions, he said, ?It is a public good that will benefit even us sitting in Delhi. It may be unfair to place the onus only on the agricultural community. It is a complex issue and expecting a clear direction for change in time for the climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico, in December may not be practical.?
Community-based action by blocs such as civil society groups and non-governmental organisations can play an instrumental role in raising awareness about over exploitation of common resources from pastures and ground water to fish stocks in coastal regions, wall added.
Stamoulis said, ?Ignoring livestock is like ignoring the elephant in the room.? He outlined four broad factors that influence the choice of production methods from among grazing, mixed farming and industrial system. Each of these has specific implications for the environment, food security, livelihood and human health. While livelihood and food security continue to dominate decisions in low-income economies, health and environmental concerns are seen to grow in importance with affluence, he explained. ?We need to see what are the capacities of various systems to contribute to environmental sustainability,? he said in response to a query on the conflicting claims of sustainability and development on livestock management.
?FAO brought this issue to Copenhagen, but we tried to approach it from a food security? angle, said Stamoulis, adding that the organisation is trying to develop a country-level programme for climate change-related issues, but he could not divulge any details at this time.
The Copenhagen climate change summit in December last year was expected to produce a legally binding treaty for containing greenhouse gas emissions and arrive at a plan to arrest increases in global temperatures.